Reflecting on Trayvon Martin’s Shooting
by gillis
For the past several days I’ve been trying to digest the information about the Travyon Martin shooting. I’m not sure I can come to an understanding of it, but it has provoked a wide swinging arc of thought in my mind. Here are the ingredients in my brain stew to date:
The sixth grade ELA teacher in my school uses the theme of courage to connect her reading and writing work throughout the year and is now teaching a unit on the Civil Rights movement. She has a large selection of novels as well as video footage and non-fiction pieces for her students to read and respond to in a variety of ways. One of her students told her he thought the whole unit was irrelevant in the year 2012. He felt these issues were in the past and they didn’t impact our lives today. I snorted when she told me that – partly because the student was in my class last year and he questioned the validity of anything he was asked to – but also because I teach in a rural, regional district in western Massachusetts and it’s about 90% white. Including our “relevance officer”. Unfortunately, just days later, Trayvon Martin brought some present day relevance to the unit.
Trayvon Martin’s shooting has also made me think about gun laws in the United States. Full disclosure here in case you’ve not picked up on it yet, I am politically quite liberal and I make no apology for it. I’m thoughtful and deliberate about my views, but I realize that others may be equally thoughtful and still come up with an entirely different set of beliefs. I don’t want the government controlling how I procreate, worship, or choose to entertain myself, however I do think the government should help us all make sure that the elderly, disabled, and disadvantaged have the resources they need to live in dignity. I also believe that things like guns should be regulated because they are weapons that are built solely for the purpose of killing, or at least hurting, other beings. I do eat meat and have no issue with hunting, but I have never understand the need for some of our citizens to stockpile weapons, especially those that are designed for combat, not hunting. I think guns should be regulated rather strictly. The man who shot Trayvon Martin was a neighborhood watch volunteer. My neighborhood has a sign that reads “This neighborhood patrolled by Neighborhood Watch,” now I’m wondering if any of my neighbors has the means to start their own militia. I pray it’s not the guy who competitively grows the gigantic pumpkins because he seems a little “off,” if you know what I mean. And I sure hope it’s not the house where the kid blares the loud, droning music whenever his parents are out for the night. I would feel better if I knew which house had weapons inside them. Or perhaps I would feel much worse.
Looking at the photographs of Trayvon Martin, I’m reminded of middle school students I taught in Chicago fifteen years ago. I picture the eighth grade boys who wore hoodies to school every day and who had to arm themselves with bravado just to get to school and back home each day. What the world expects of these kids and what we give them to fortify themselves with doesn’t match up very well. It is every parent’s nightmare to think that you can send your child out into the world and they won’t come back. Knowing that the shooter has not been charged with a crime sends some powerful and chilling messages about what, and whom, our society values. I think we may be at a crossroads of some kind and I hope that the road we take will be wide enough to accommodate everyone.
gillis and her big mouth 
This is a very different type of writing from what you have shared so far, and you pull it off nicely. Like.the actor who can pull off completely different character, you have demonstrated here your flexibility as a writer. I come here usually expecting a little humor so imagine my surprise to pick up the tone and voice of this piece. Very serious. Very important. You have given us much to think about here.
Cathy
I am the mom of two African American teenagers. They are good, good guys, but they look like other African American teenagers. Every time I send them out into the world, armed with bravado, I am afraid. I am afraid that they will be stopped by a police office on the way to or from school (and people who thinks racial profiling doesn’t exist need to live in my shoes for about 24 hours). When I send them to the movies, I am afraid. When they ask to go to a high school party, I’m afraid they will be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just last week, a 19 year old was gunned down about two miles from my house. I agree with the previous commenter– you have an important message and have given us much to think about here!
I really connected with this as you talked about the student who thought a Civil Rights unit is irrelevant in 2012. When I taught seventh grade reading, I always did a memoir.autobiography unit of Civil Rights leaders. One year a student in all seriousness asked me why it was such a big deal that Rosa Parks had to give up her seat on the bus. I was stunned. Totally transformed how I taught that unit.
Teaching Tolerance.org has some great units and videos for free. They are aimed at many grade levels. And they are relevant…
On a side note, I just discovered your blog through TWT. I love it!
I, too, have been thinking about this. It’s deeply disturbing that this kind of thing could happen today – and it does drive home the fact that we aren’t “past” needing to worry about such things.
You wrote a difficult topic well. I appreciated reading the comments as much as the piece. Made me think about how the the conversation around this, honestly – respect – people truly talking about difficult things, can have such power.
Favorite words: relevance, thoughtful, deliberate, bravado… Thanks for so genuinely putting this difficult topic out there for us to read, ponder, and mull over. I agree with Dana that this post, and the comments it has welcomed, have so much power.
I discussed this with my eighth-graders on Friday. Many of my children are African American, and I, too, saw so many of my kids looking back at me from the pictures in the newspaper. One of the themes I’ve been trying to develop with my kids this year was that literacy is a great leveler, that it takes away the “otherness” and makes us all members of one race- the human race. One of my kids made the comment that the Neighborhood Watch guy didn’t know enough about the people who lived in his world. That maybe if he knew them better, they wouldn’t have looked quite so threatening. The discussion continued to buzz until another student, a Palestinian boy, spoke up. His comment was that he wouldn’t have had to have had a hoodie on. Our role in our kids’ lives is so critical now- what a world they must learn to navigate.
Diane
Wow – some very thoughtful responses from your students!